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European Court
To Examine
British TS Cases

By Reuters
Contributed by Deeva Vincent
Strasbourg, France
February 24, 1998

Two Britons who had a sex change won their campaign Tuesday to take their complaints against Britain before the European Court of Human Rights.

Rachel Horsham and Kristina Sheffield, who were both born as men and underwent sex transformation surgery to become women, had complained to the European Commission of Human Rights that British law discriminated against them.

The commission, which decides which charges should go before the main court, said in a statement Tuesday that there had been a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects a person's right to privacy.

Horsham and Sheffield said British authorities refused to change their original names and genders on their birth certificates and other records.

``This has meant that on various occasions (Sheffield) has had to reveal her previous gender, for example when she attended court to stand surety for a friend and when she applied for car insurance,'' the commission said.

Horsham, who lives in the Netherlands, told the commission she was ``forced to live in exile because of the legal situation in the United Kingdom.''

It was not clear how long it would take the court to deliver a verdict.



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